Opinion: What Does Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Want to Be?

At E3, fans got their first hands-on with Capcom’s latest fighting title at E3’s showroom floor. The developers emphasized that the game is far simpler than its predecessors: combos are easier to initiate, the series’ focus on assists is no more, and you’re only selecting two heroes instead of three. The lesson Capcom seems to be projecting is: “fans thought Marvel vs.Capcom 3 was too complex.” Even the title, “Infinite,” suggests that the game is meant to be a clean break from the series’ legacy.

It’s hard not to see the game’s focus on story-mode and simple gameplay as a reaction to what happened with Street Fighter V’s disastrous launch. Last year, SF V alienated a lot of fans by launching without an arcade mode, an insufficient tutorial mode, and a reduced roster. Sales disappointed and the community revolted-- creating a PR nightmare for Capcom.

So Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is trying to thread a very specific needle: appeal to the esports and veteran scene by providing characters and gameplay they know and love while also trying to open the game up to new players through a renewed focus on accessibility. But from what they’ve shown, it seems that Capcom has taken the wrong lessons from Street Fighter V’s release.

A caveat: the following criticisms are based on what has been seen-- an early demonstration at a trade show. Just because there was a focus on a particular mode during the demo doesn’t mean there aren’t other modes to-be-announced. Likewise, the announced roster is currently limited, but Capcom has released Super and Ultra versions of their series in the past, often including additional characters to satisfy fan demand.

Forget the Story, Give Us a Tutorial

At Sony’s booth at E3, MvC: Infinite emphasized the story mode. The “team-up storyline” felt more like an excuse to introduce the player to various characters and then have them beat up the Ultron/Sigma underlings. While something as ambitious or convoluted as Injustice 2’s story isn’t necessary, the demo’s story felt like a clunky after-school special where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Care Bears help you say no to drugs.

Street Fighter V didn’t fail because of a lack of a story. And while some players can arguably say they care about Shadaloo and whatever plot Bison has this time, MvC doesn’t attract players for its plot. Any game series where Arthur from Ghost ‘N Goblins is teaming up with Chris from Resident Evil to defeat Thanos is, at its core, ridiculous.

Like Smash Brothers, the roster of MvC has always been an effective toy chest for a child who didn’t care about consistency. Instead of an emphasis on story mode, Capcom should have taken E3 to show how the game is going to teach players beyond the basics of punch, kick, and block. What wasn’t present at the E3 demo is a presentation of Infinite’s tutorial that will explain things like specials, how to air juggle, cancels, etc. These higher-level abilities are what is separating new players from veterans. Players can beat the story and arcade mode all they want, but without an introduction to the higher concepts of fighting games, they’ll still get stomped the first time they play a real person online.

What Capcom should have been doing, as AV Club’s Matt Gerardi articulates, is taking a page from Injustice 2 or Guilty Gear Xrd Revelation’s playbook. Guilty Gear, for example, features an exceptionally complex combat system. To address this, rather than neutering the combat, the developers of GG built a robust tutorial and combo challenges to allow new players to master these high combat concepts with character-specific instructions.

Reducing the Roster May Backfire

As the successor to X-Men: Children of the Atom and later Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, MvC as a series was already a bloated amalgam of universes. But that’s a large part of its appeal: Fans of Street Fighter could expect to find Ryu and Chun-Li but also X-Men like Wolverine and Storm. Notably, the MvC series allowed space for more obscure games like Darkstalkers and Captain Commando to have their moment in the sun.

The problem with such a cast is that if you’re new to a franchise, so many characters to learn can be overwhelming. A smaller roster minimizes the number of move sets players have to memorize, hopefully making the learning curve less steep. Constantly wondering who it is you’re fighting and how to deal with them can be daunting.

Unlike many other genres, fighting games lack definite protagonists.

But the roster problem cuts both ways. Unlike many other genres, fighting games lack definite protagonists. Tekken’s developers can craft as many beautiful cut scenes involving Jin as they want: to certain players, that series will always be about Marshal Law or Paul Phoenix or another dozen or so series regulars. With fighting games, you get to choose the character that fits your style, and the game becomes their story. Unfortunately, when that character is eliminated from the latest edition of a franchise, a company risks alienating that character’s fan base. See: Soul Calibur V.

Likely under instructions from Marvel, Capcom is focusing purely on heroes who feature prominently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe-- thus no Fox owned-characters like wise-cracking Deadpool or series regular Wolverine. Without the X-Men, MvC not only is shedding the last tethers to the ‘90s fighter genre but also disposing of a core aspect of what made MvC fun. Unfortunately for Capcom, it seems MvC: Infinite is caught in the crossfire between movie executives.

Who is This Game For?

In approaching a more MCU-friendly, simplistic, and plot-driven experience, there is clearly an attempt to attract new players. If the Infinity Stones develop into a truly balanced element of the game’s strategy, then the esports scene will likely also embrace MvC: I. But fans of the franchise have to be at least a little worried about this version.

If you were looking for the X-Men, BB Hood, or Hayato, you'll likely need to look elsewhere.

The frenetic pace of the MvC is gone. No more assists, no more three-person tag-in special moves. The large, diverse cast of obscure and iconic heroes is now reduced to a MCU-approved Infinity War group plus the major players of Capcom. If you were looking for the X-Men, BB Hood, or Hayato, you’ll likely need to look elsewhere.

As Polygon’s David Cabrera points out, what’s even more galling about MvC: I is that Dragon Ball FighterZ seems to be doing what Marvel vs. Capcom used to be known for-- frenetic 3v3 combat, full assists, and over-the-top animation. Marvel vs. Capcom is traditionally a comic book slugfest come to life. That's why Dragon Ball FighterZ looks so great -- it's an over-the-top anime; it gets what it's supposed to be.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite doesn’t know what it wants to be.

Christian Holt is IGN's Custom Content Editor. You can follow him on Twitter.